Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is now the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Meanwhile, Duterte’s appointee Prospero De Vera was reinstated as the chairperson of the Commission of Higher Education (CHED).
Considering the ongoing COVID-19 and educational crisis, Duterte and De Vera have a lot of agenda on their plates.
The Philippines was one of the last countries in the world to open its schools for an in-person setup, after over two years of distance learning. However, only 14 percent of Filipinos find the new normal setup effective while 59 percent find it only half as effective in comparison to the traditional setup, according to studies by the World Bank (WB) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
In the latest study on learning poverty, the WB found that nine of 10 Filipino children aged 10 cannot read and understand text designed for their age—the highest among Southeast Asian nations.
De Vera is also under fire as opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros called to investigate him after reports of “ghost scholars” of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) surfaced. CHED has since denied the allegations and asked Hontiveros to reveal the names of the so-called ghost scholars.
The Commission on Audit (COA) likewise flagged CHED for almost P7 billion “questionable releases.” Hontiveros said that De Vera should explain CHED’s deficiencies before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, especially since he requested a P30.7 billion 2023 budget allocation for CHED.
De Vera said in a separate statement that CHED will not be accepting new UniFAST scholars as the 2023 budget bill submitted by the Department of Budget Management (DBM) slashed his original proposal to P25.8 billion.
Meanwhile, Duterte is pushing for a P710-billion 2023 budget, where P150 million is deemed “confidential.” Duterte promised that she will rebuild classrooms destroyed by Super Typhoon Karding and fix the entire educational system with an additional P100 billion. ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro called her sought funding “baseless.”
“If you are going to go by their presentation, 6 percent of the GDP is around P1.4 trillion, this 100 billion is small so how did she come up with that amount?” said Castro in an interview.
DepEd’s presentation during the House budget deliberations discussed that they need at least 6 percent of the GDP to make their goals into reality—far from what the agency even asked Congress. Castro expressed her disappointment that she was unable to ask more questions as the interpellation only lasted for two hours. Historically, agencies like DepEd are questioned for seven to eight hours during budget hearings.
Despite the proposed multi-billion budget, Duterte said she has no plans in increasing teachers’ salaries citing that the wage benchmark should be the private sector to prevent further closures of private schools. DepEd, instead, will look into increasing “nonsalary” benefits like bonuses.
The 2023 national budget passed the House of Representatives and is now being deliberated at the Senate. Per the 1987 Constitution, the education sector is entitled to the largest portion of the budget per year.
Also in the legislative mill is Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa’s mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) bill, which is supported both by Duterte and De Vera. Under the proposal, students in senior high school or college will be subject to mandatory military training.
In a statement, De Vera said that DepEd and CHED are in talks on which level they will implement ROTC in. He also added that as a former military reservist, he was able to build his character and will do the same for others.
But for advocates like Castro, Marcos and his education heads have the wrong set of priorities.
Even back in 2021, ACT Teachers has already been calling the Duterte administration to prioritize vaccination to give way to the reopening of schools. Castro said that an in-person setup is still the best way to teach the students. Schools and universities across the country have gradually reopened their classrooms despite the continuing threat of COVID-19.
“Paano natin makakamit ang targets kung walang konkretong plano? Paano natin mabubusisi ang mga programa at polisiya ng DepEd kung tunay na makakatulong nga ba na makamit ang mga target? Baka naman puro pahirap lamang ulit sa mga guro na papasan ng kakulangan ng ahensya ang maaasahan kung walang maipresentang plano,” Castro said in a statement. ●
